Patriots Defender Takes Issue With Playing Time With Tweet

It doesn’t seem like Patriots cornerback Jalen Mills is too happy with his playing time.

Mills was once viewed as a key member in the Patriots’ effort to replace lost defensive production, but has seen his playing time slip considerably this season. The 29-year-old has played in just 24% of the Patriots’ defensive snaps this season, and logged just 10 defensive snaps in New England’s loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

That’s something he took issue with, and we’re sure you won’t have trouble guessing where Mills voiced his displeasure.

“10 snaps (emoji) damn,” Mills posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday, responding to a tweet from ESPN’s Mike Reiss that detailed New England’s snap counts from Week 5.

That number is Mills’ second lowest since joining the Patriots, outpacing his mark of nine from Week 1.

It seemed like he might see a considerable uptick in time after the Patriots saw Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones, Marcus Jones and Jack Jones all go down with injuries, but that hasn’t been the case. J.C. Jackson, who was acquired last week, immediately vaulted in front of Mills, while Shaun Wade and Ameer Speed both jumped him, as well.

There’s no doubt he’ll hear about the tweet, but time will tell whether or not it was effective in getting him more playing time.